back from Kumasi...

And now for the Morning Report!
"To lay before my ruler all the facts about his relm to fill him in on all the beastly news"... "Chimps are going ape. giraffes remain above it all. Elephants remember though just what i can't recall. Crocodiles are snapping up fresh offers from the bank, showed interest in my nest egg but quickly said no thanks. we havent paid the hornbills and the vultures have a hunch that not everyone invited will be coming back for lunch...."

So after that happened we went to Kumasi for the weekend. The drive there is 5 hours long and it was so nice to just look out the window at the small towns flying by, do some reading for class and then, because of those readings, fall asleep for an hour or two and have a lovely nap! Upon arrival in Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region we went to the palace of the Ashanti king and the Ashanti Kingdom museum to learn about the largest population in Ghana and the kingdoms rulers and history. We also learned about the history of the stool, the gold and the black (ask me later) and the most rocking woman ever Nana Yaa Asantewaa who stood up and asked her fellow men why they were not fighting for their Kingdom against the British, when the British had already captured their King. She then led the men in battle against the British, hid the golden stool, caused a lot of uproar and was imprisoned! This was in the 1900's. After the museum (where we traded in our aweful tourguide for a good one) we went to the largest market in West Africa, and oh my god it was huge!!! I got tons of fabric and some jewlery, but my friends got some crazy things including Obama biscuits, snails, blackberries (which are nothing like the ones we get at home,) and unidentifiable candies that tasted like nothing. I really enjoyed that each vender was much more relaxed than the ones in Accra. They would let you take your time and look around. They might try to be extra helpful and even if you are not sure you wanted something they would find it for you anyway, but if you said mehw3 (I am looking) they would leave you to your shopping. I guess these vendors learned that when dealing with white people the best way to make money is to let the American or European take their time. The other thing i really liked about this market was that they didnt try to rip you off like so many other places. For example my friend was buying snails and the woman quoted 5 cedis for one snail and then laughed like crazy. Because she laughed he knew that that was crazy and worked the price down to 2 cedis for 6 snails. People would also say a price and then say that it was not the final price: the final price is whatever you wanted to pay, within reason. I wish we could have stayed longer to explore the market more (even after getting my hair caught on a fish that was sticking out of a bowl on a womans head as she walked by,) but we were on schedule. That evening we had dinner at the hotel and the cook prepared my friends snails in a soup. The evening continued in a very relaxing way with airconditioning and movies and CNN on tv. That night in our airconditioned hotel room my friend and I froze. The most we ever use to keep cool at night is a fan, so we went from not sleeping under anything to sleeping with our sheets, our blankets, and our wraps to keep warm it was not a pleasent feeling to be so cold. The next morning we went to the Kente village to try our hands at weaving and learn about the history. I really enjoyed weaving and it reminded me of those times at Camp Namanu were you could elect to go weave in the weaving house and make your own rug or something. If you know what I am talking about imagine it five times more complex. there are levers to be pulled, some you pull with your toes, things to be flipped and many strings to be passed over or under in order to make some of the most beautiful designs and patterns. If you want to know more about Kente..... Google it! or wait for me to get home! After the kente village we went to the Adinkra symbols village where we got to see how they made the dye they used to print awesome and incredibly meaningful designs on cloth to originally be worn at funerals, but are now worn all the time. There are symbols like the moon that mean loyalty or faithfulness because the moon is in the sky every night. Or symbols like the two fish: when one fish bits the other does too, so it is a symbol to remind those to be harmonious. There are so many more and I will be bringing home a book of the symbols to show people. This weekend was a weekend of learning and shopping and...... shopping. After all this shopping we went to a lake that was created by a meiter, simular to Crater lake. A few friends and I went out in a canoe, and then the water was so tempting that i jumped in and swam back. I did not realize that this lake would have a current, or how far out I was. It was a good work out and the lake was beautiful and relaxing. That night went to dinner at a really fancy chinese restaurant, which looked like it was going to have great food and didn't. It's always funny when you think to yourself, "yeah I would love some chinese right now" and then you have chinese and you think to yourself, "this food sucks why didn't I have rice balls with ground nut soup or Kenkey or any other traditional Ghanaian food." That night Abena, the woman in charge of our trip took us out for a while to get drinks and listen to live music, which sounded like a fusion between latin jazz and Twi, and then back to the hotel for a thriller movie with Alicia Silverstone.... A+, and more CNN. The following day, Sunday, two friends and I went to the cultural center, while everyone else swam or slept at the hotel. We got lost on the way but it was really fun and I found that I really like Kumasi. We also found out that Kumasi has a zoo and were wondering if they had American animals there instead of African ones: the inverse of our zoos at home. The cultural center was nice and I would have liked to be there on a week day to see all that was going on. We went to the museum and ran around a bit and then had to be back at the hotel to join the bus and be on our way back to Accra. I am so thankful for all the trips that CIEE provides. The drama and the stress of Accra and Legon get so intense some times that an escape is so appreciated. We are now in our last week of classes and you all have to wish me luck because despite the fact that I have attended class I feel like I have learned NOTHING.,.. we shall see!